3D Star Map - blender Add-on

Explore the stars with this add-on for blender 2.8+

This add-on allows you to import up to more than 3,750 stars into your blender viewport based on scientific data through an easy to use sidebar panel. You can then explore their positions, features and movement in the blender viewport or use the imported stars to render beautiful star maps, scientific images and more.

Features:

• Limit the amount of imported stars based on distance from Earth, spectral classes, apparent magnitude and more
• Display the stars' names in the viewport
• Place the stars in galactic or celestial coordinates
• Watch how the stars move over time based on their proper motion and radial velocity
• Simulate the night sky: All stars are projected onto a sphere and their apparent magnitude is used for emission
• See how the night sky looks today at your location: The stars can be rotated based on time, date and the observer's position (new in v1.1)
• Automatically connect the stars to show star constellations
• More options give you further control over the map generation process

Further information:

The download includes a ZIP-file that can be installed in blender like any other add-on (see the Documentation PDF for details). The ZIP-file contains a python script and a .csv data file.

This add-on works in blender 2.8x, blender 2.9x, blender 3.x, 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2.

Links:

Trailer

Documentation PDF file (v1.1)

Documentation PDF file (v1.0)

Tutorial Video

Video that explains the new features in v1.1

Free demo version (contains only 299 stars and no star constellations, still v1.0.1)

Version history:

v1.1.1 (released 09/20/24):

• Fixed Preset World Settings not working in blender version 4.2.
• Created a workaround for the removal of Bloom in blender version 4.2 using the compositor. As a result, the bloom effect is now much stronger by default.
• Fixed Achernar not being selectable in Shifted Center
• Fixed the IAU Leo constellation that was displayed incorrectly
• Fixed incorrect coordinates and distances for Delta Piscium and Eta Sagittae

v1.1.0 (released 12/18/21): New features, changes and fixes:

• Earth rotation: The generated map can now be rotated based on time, date and the position of an observer
• Shifted center: The center point of the generated map can now be changed to a custom point
• Print data to console: Star data that is used for map generation can now be printed to blender's console based on the chosen filters

• New options that give you more control over the generated mapA full list of the new features and changes is available here

v1.0.1: The stars' emission strength in night sky mode now properly scales with the Luminosity setting.

Disclamer:

I do not guarantee that the data used to generate the star maps with this add-on is correct or accurate. I can however say that I tried by best to assure that the data is as accurate as possible. Check out the Documentation PDF for further information.